Re: [Phys-L] Legitimate Phys-L topics.

[Marty Weiss <martweiss@comcast.net>]

All,
	Back to discussing writing skills among high school science students.

	There is no such animal as "plain English" for anyone in their teens or twenties.  or as my students would put it:  "U gotta B kidding!"   Or the incredulous response I get when I assign the chemistry class (10th grade) a write-up ( one "simple" paragraph, on their observations:  "Write a lab report???... This isn't English class."  
  
The physics class, (11th grade) on the other hand, knows I require an entire page on every physics lab so after the initial panic, they all respond with decently written reports.  Those who cannot write in the beginning soon come to realize that unless they practice and produce a well written report they cannot receive an "A" no matter how well they performed on the experiment. (Some whose performance was less than stellar could receive a "C" or less if the report is also less than acceptable.    I give everyone an opportunity to confer with me or the English teacher before they have to hand it in.  And eventually all of them come around.  Some even hand in a full page typed report, single space with spell-check.  What a difference a year makes. 

You can't just say,  "Now class, writeup the lab."  No, you need an organized method of what you expect.   For over 20 years I have used the RERUN method, which I have explained many times before on this forum and other discussion groups.  It gives them a concise way to organize their reports.  This undoubtedly helps them greatly in organizing their thoughts and writing up the lab. 

Martin
 
On Jan 5, 2014, at 10:58 AM, Richard Tarara wrote:

> It would be nice if just assigning this reading assignment would work with H.S. and General Education classes, but in my experience it won't (can't even get some in the class to buy the books much less read them.)  It really can be like the proverbial 'mule' and a workable 2x4 can be a well done video presentation.  [I only tried showing two seriously flawed but oppositely themed ones ONCE--and seeing that such just produced confusion, have stayed with the NOVA/FRONTLINE one that seems to work best--based on short essays the students write after viewing.]  I can blame 'pop culture' for some of the pedagogical difficulties, but it is what it is, and IMO, better to use it than to fight it.  Once effectively stunned, then one can use information such as that you suggest below (thanks--will include the 12 points in class materials), but if you think this kind of class would read much beyond (even if assigned) you haven't worked with this level of student (taking a 'required' course). :-(
>
> rwt
>
> On 1/5/2014 12:45 AM, John Denker wrote:
> > If you want people to see what science knows, have them read an actual scientific report prepared by actual scientists. Start with the 12 enumerated points in this appendix: